Oliver James Padel (born 31 October 1948 in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...

, England) is an English

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...

and toponymist specializing in Welsh and Cornish studies. He is currently Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic in the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. and Visiting Professor of Celtic at the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

Biography

Padel was born in 1948, the son of

John Hunter Padel John Hunter Padel (3 May 1913 – 24 October 1999) was a British psychoanalyst and classicist. He was born in Carlisle, where his father Charles Padel was headmaster of Carlisle Grammar School. His mother was Mòrag (née Hunter), 3rd daughte ...

and his wife Hilda (née Barlow), daughter of Sir Alan Barlow, 2nd Baronet and his wife Nora, (née Darwin), through whom he is a great-great-grandson of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

. His older sister is the poet Ruth Padel. He was educated at

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_he ...

, Hampstead, and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, whence he graduated with a BA in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic in 1970. He was subsequently awarded an M.Litt. for his thesis on the inscriptions of

Pictland The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ear ...

by the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

in 1972. In 1992, he took a Litt.D. for his work on Cornish place-names. He was a founding member of staff of the

Institute of Cornish Studies The Institute of Cornish Studies (, ICS) is a research institute in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, affiliated with the University of Exeter. Formerly at Pool, near Redruth, then in Truro, it is now on the Penryn Campus near Penryn, ...

(in the Charles Thomas era) from 1972 to 1988. In 1988–90 he had a temporary post in the

Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic The Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC or, informally, ASNaC) is one of the constituent departments of the University of Cambridge, and focuses on the history, material culture, languages and literatures of the various peoples who i ...

(ASNaC) at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

while Patrick Sims-Williams was on research leave, followed by posts in the Department of History and Welsh History at the

University of Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

and at the

Cornwall Record Office Kresen Kernow ( Cornish for Cornwall Centre) in Redruth, United Kingdom is Cornwall's archive centre, home to the world's biggest collection of archive and library material related to Cornwall. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and C ...

. In 1994, he was appointed University Lecturer in Celtic Literature in ASNaC, replacing the former incumbent, Patrick Sims-Williams. Padel was president of the English Place-Name Society, from 2004 to 2014, and is a past president of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. He is a member of council of the Devon and Cornwall Record Society, and he edits the ''Journal of the

Royal Institution of Cornwall The Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) is a Learned society in Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It was founded in Truro on 5 February 1818 as the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Institution. The Institution was one of the earliest of seve ...

''. Cornish nationalist,

John Angarrack John Angarrack is a Cornish nationalist who campaigns for greater recognition of Cornish identity and is a self-published author on Cornish affairs. His campaign to revive Cornish culture and language featured in a 2005 article in the European ...

criticised Padel for cultural suppression by disregarding Cornish etymology of place-names in an attempt to make a connection to Saxon naming conventions.Angarrack J., ''Our Future is History – Identity, Law and the Cornish Question''. Self-published, 2002

Selected publications

Linguistic and literary studies

* ''Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature'' (Writers of Wales series); Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000. (pbk) 0708316891 (hbk) * ''Cornish Place-name Elements'' (English Place-Name Society series; v.56/57); Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1985. : No price * ''A Popular Dictionary of Cornish Place-names''; Penzance: A. Hodge, 1988.

Editions, translations and other contributions

* ''A Commodity of Good Names: essays in honour of Margaret Gelling''; edited by O. J. Padel and David N. Parsons. Donington, Lincolnshire: Shaun Tyas, 2008. (hbk.) * ''The Cornish Lands of the Arundells of Lanherne, fourteenth to sixteenth centuries'' / edited by H. S. A. Fox and O. J. Padel. (Devon and Cornwall Record Society. New series; v. 41); Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 2000. (pbk.) * ''The Cornish Writings of the Boson Family. Nicholas, Thomas and John Boson, of Newlyn: circa 1660 to 1730.'' Edited with translations and notes by O. J. Padel; Redruth: Institute of Cornish Studies, 1975. * ''Domesday Book'' / text and translation edited by John Morris. 10, Cornwall / edited by Caroline and Frank Thorn from a draft translation prepared by Oliver Padel (History From the Sources series); Chichester : Phillimore, 1979. (hbk) (pbk) * Gascoyne, Joel ''A Map of the County of Cornwall, 1699'' ; reprinted in facsimile with an introduction by W. L. D. Ravenhill and O. J. Padel (Devon and Cornwall Record Society: new series; vol. 34.); Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1991. * Padel, O. J. "Two new pre-conquest charters for Cornwall". ''Cornish Studies''; 6, 1979. pp. 20–27. * Royal Institution of Cornwall: ''Exhibition of Manuscripts and Printed Books on the Cornish Language'' (15th century - 1904). ompiled by O. J. Padel. edruth:Institute of Cornish Studies, 1975. Note: Arranged in association with the 5th International Congress of Celtic Studies, held at Penzance. * ''A Medieval Cornish Miscellany'' / W. M. M. Picken ; edited by O. J. Padel; Chichester: Phillimore, 2000. * Thomas, Charles ''A Provisional List of Imported Pottery in Post-Roman Western Britain & Ireland'' / Charles Thomas ; (with an appendix on Tintagel by O. J. Padel) (Special report ; no.7); Redruth: Institute of Cornish Studies, 1981.

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padel, Oliver Education in Cornwall Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of the West of England, Bristol Living people Historians of Cornwall Academics of the University of Cambridge Toponymists 1948 births Arthurian scholars